


Another day another fight

by Ppprincen



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom
Genre: Fake Angst, Gen, Not Beta Read, Post Game, dw no one dies, forzen is there? idk i needed some1 for them to fight, how tf is that not a tag i KNOW theres stories with similar plots, let me know if anything else needs tagging!, no spoilers in the tags read to see whats really happening, takes place after acab stream
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:01:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24567376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ppprincen/pseuds/Ppprincen
Summary: Benry betrays the science team mid fight. Gordon is the only one left who can take him down.(pst i took this off anon so if you wanna check out my other hlvrai fic you can)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 43





	Another day another fight

It was supposed to be a fair fight. Five against one. Gordon, Dr Coomer, Bubby, Tommy and Benry vs this Forzen guy. They should have known it wouldn't be that easy. 

Benry laughs, deep and unsettling. The kind of laugh that goes straight to your bones and you know you're fucked. He turns, eyes only briefly glancing over the results of his latest betrayal, three bodies littered in front of him, before locking eyes with Gordon.

Gordon tenses, ready for whatever fucked up comment he has. Maybe 'you should never have trusted me' or some insult to his intelligence. Instead he gets something so jarring and out of place that it sticks in his mind, a memory to tell his future kids if he made it out of this alive.

"ngl your armor is pretty gay."

"We're wearing the same thing!"

Benry doesn't respond, lifting his gun and aiming it at Gordon's chest. He fires twice and Gordon barely dodges in time, throwing himself to the side in a roll. His reflexes have been honed from experience, but it was getting harder and harder to dodge knowing all of your teammates were out of the fight.

Tommy's body is pushed against the wall, vest splattered in blue. He was one of the first to go down, hit by Forzen before Benry's betrayal. "I don't think this is how the game is meant to go Mr. Freeman." He says, pushing himself up off the wall to head out of the battle area.

Gordon doesn't respond, having taken the fight to the sidelines, with both of them dodging and attacking at ridiculous speeds only rivaled by each other. Benry with the speed of whatever non human entity he was and Gordon with instinct trained into him from both being trapped in Black Mesa and robbing 3 banks, a casino, and the white house. Gordon was using the environmental obstacles to his advantage, ducking for cover and only coming up when necessary. Benry, however, was taunting him, using his sweet voice and throwing it distances to make it seem he was in places he wasn't, diverting Gordon's attention and nearly letting him ambush.

From the floor, Bubby huffs in annoyance. "Bitch said he wasn't going to use powers, we would've had a fair fight if I could set him on fire."

Dr. Coomer stands up, popping his back and offering a hand down to Bubby. He takes it and gets launched up from Coomer's strength. Coomer laughs at this, dusting off Bubby’s blue stained vest. "And I would've had a fair fight if they let me wrestle!" he shakes his head. "But I don't think either of us had a chance with the speed of that surprise."

Together they turn to Forzen, who's laying face up on the ground, limbs sprawled out and an empty look on his face. Briefly Coomer and Bubby duck down, an orange orb rushing over their head to splat on the opposite wall, before coming back up and letting Coomer call out to him. "Forzen! Are you quite alright over there! It's important to always keep a calm head during a battle!"

Forzen gave a thumbs up from his spot, not moving. To be fair, he _had_ kept a fairly level head, figuring he was enough of a trained soldier to take down his 4 untrained civilian friends in a fight. He'd analyzed the team and took down Tommy at the start, deciding he was the weakest link but that only made the others mad. With crys of "Don't fuck with the science team!" Bubby had cornered him, letting Coomer shoot the killing blow and leaving Gordon in the back laughing from thinking the fight was over so fast.

They'd let their guard down. They assumed their only enemy was out, not accounting for Benry's usual tricks. Forzen fell dramatically, back hitting the ground and gun slipping out of his grip. The man must've been a trained actor for how he 'died', but the group didn't have time to think of how convincing it was. The second the gun hit the floor Benry had dropped his own given gun and dashed behind him, scooping up the enemy weapon and firing on Bubby and Coomer. The only way he could have taken them down was by having such a drastic level of surprise on his side and he took full advantage of that fact. 

Tommy was already out of the fight, having already left the rink, Bubby and Coomer slowly making their way to the exit while Benry's only ally still laid 'dead' on the floor.

It was only Benry and Gordon.

"I defeated you once, I can do it again!" Gordon called, currently hitting behind a wall, ready to launch around the corner and the first hint of movement.

"No you didn't. I'm still alive aren't I? Besides- you guys only had the advantage because of each other. Power of, uh, friendship or whatever." Benry replies from a point startlingly close to Gordon, sending him up and running for another safe spot. "You guys are just. Ponies." He hums a bit, not using the sweet voice but humming some theme song. "That's you guys. Think you can take down a God just 'cause you've got each other." The volume of his voice fluctuates as he travels up and down the battle area, searching for Gordon. 

_"What the fuck is he talking about?"_ Gordon whispers to himself, wishing he had a teammate for input right now. Tommy could motivate him or Dr. Coomer would give him some insightful advice that would seem rather obvious but still somehow be helpful. Hell, even Bubby would be helpful right now! Anyone that wouldn't die on him or betray him midfight would be a valued teammate. 

"Found ya." Benry says. 

Gordon freezes, his thoughts coming to a screeching stop. Through the HEV suit he- no, vest, he's wearing a protective vest now, no HEV suit anymore, he reminds himself. Through the vest he can feel the nozzle of a gun pushing up against his back. 

"Passport?" 

Gordon reacts on instinct, swinging around to face him and bringing his right hand up, clutching it into a fist before shoving it against Benry's chest. He slams his eyes shut in the heat of battle, distantly hoping he doesn't get blood on his face. 

Instead nothing happens, no gunshot goes off, no blood splatter or sound of a body hitting the floor. He opens his eyes, seeing Benry standing over him, gun still pointed at Gordon's chest, and a distinctly human fist resting against Benry's chest. 

"Did you forget your hand wasn't a gun? Dumbass." Benry says, monotone yet somehow managing to sound smug. He fires once into Gordon's chest, the lack of distance making a distinct but small blue stain on his vest.

* * *

Gordon grumbled as he made his way to the table Tommy and Dr. Coomer were already at. They should have won! He didn't stay mad for long, cheering up as he approached the table. 

Underneath the table was Sunkist, who looked very happy to see everyone was unharmed and safe. Normally the establishment they were in wouldn't allow dogs of any sort, but they made an exception for Sunkist because he "looks very polite," and indeed he was, sitting calmly next to Tommy as he talked about the fight.

"Hello Gordon!" Dr. Coomer called, waving him down to their shared table Gordon was already standing in front of. "Excellent shooting out there!" 

"Thank you Dr. Coomer. Where's Bubby?" Gordon asked, sitting down and glancing around for him. 

"He went to get us some Soda™!" Tommy replied, quieting down. "I had some before the battle to help me see faster, but it didn't help us win…" 

Benry sat down next to Gordon. "I think you were pretty good out there Tommy. Not your fault you got taken out fast. Drinking Soda™ is a pro-gamer strat."

Tommy grinned, "Thanks Benry!" 

Bubby quickly returned, dumping a ridiculous amount of Soda™ cans on the table. 

"Damn Bubby where'd you get the money for these? I thought you left it all behind in the safe house." Gordon asked, confused. They brought the bare minimum amount of money to get in, and hadn't planned on eating before they left. Less money on their person meant they couldn't get caught for suspicious activity after only paying in hundreds everywhere they went. 

"I took your crowbar." Bubby said, as if that explained everything. 

The conversations derailed after that, the group getting comfortable. 

"Say, Tommy, your dog is uh, perfect right?" Benry pointed at Sunkist. 

"Yep!"

"so he can do a bunch of things normal dogs can't…?"

"pretty much!"

"…Does he have Playstation+?"

Gordon tuned out, not wanting to hear Benry's rant about Heavenly Sword for the nth time. Instead, he started thinking about how things went down during their paintball fight. That’s all it was, paintball, and yet at the end there… Gordon had… regressed? Was that the word? For just a second, he thought he was back in the HEV suit, and then he’d tried to fire at benry with his arm gun. The same arm gun that he had lost and miraculously been replaced by his real hand over a month ago at Chuck E. Cheese™. The HEV suit had been pried off more recently, after their string of robberies ended and they decided Gordon didn’t need the extra armor. They had to try and pull it off with a crowbar. It had worked, eventually, thought they did lose many crowbars in the process.

Logically, Gordon knew he- and the rest of the science team- probably had some form of PTSD from their time stuck underground, but he didn’t think it would randomly pop up _now_ of all times.They’d robbed banks and been in tons of fire fights since then- if fighting or guns set him off why did it only happen today?

"Yo. Gordos. You good?" Benry snapped a few times, trying to get his attention. 

It worked, Gordon breaking out of his wandering thoughts. Benry had seemingly stopped talking about the PlayStation and related games, and _someone_ had asked him a question judging by the looks from around the table. He had no idea what or who though. 

"Don't call me that. What were you asking?" 

"If you're okay, bro." 

"… Why wouldn't I be?" Gordon asked, ignoring the topic he’d just been thinking of.

"At the end there you looked really uh… serious? Like… I dunno man you just looked bad." 

"We were in a fight, of course I looked serious. I'm not sure what you mean by bad though." 

Tommy cut in. "Forzen said that you-" 

Gordon cut him off, looking around the dining area to look for Forzen. "Oh shit, speaking of Forzen, where'd he go?" 

Benry laughed at that, lighter now that they weren't fighting but with the same unsettling feeling it always had. "Took you that long to notice he left? Said he had stuff to take care of and ditched us. Pretty lame of him if you ask me."

Tommy hmph'ed. 

"Shit, sorry Tommy. Go on?" 

"Forzen said you tried to shoot him with your arm Mr. Freeman!" 

Ah, that explained the concerned looks. Gordon grimaced, not knowing how to respond. “Yeah i did but- I’m good now! No gun arm-” he held up his right hand to prove it, as if the science team didn’t already know. “- and I um, know I’m out of the HEv suit, everythings fine!” He was practically grasping at straws to reassure them he was fine. They didn’t even know he thought he was in the HEV suit, why had he said that? Why was he so worried about them worrying over him? 

“Now Gordon, emotional honesty is always important, you can tell us if anything is concerning you!” Dr. Coomer said.

“Thank you Dr. Coomer.”

“Yeah Mr. Freeman! We’re here for you!” Tommy said, “You can talk to Sunkist if you want- He’s a certified therapy dog!”

“Thank you Tommy-”

“If anyone fucks with you- we can kill them!”

“Thank you Bubby.” Gordon said, mentally groaning. He wanted this conversation to be over. _Think, Gordon, think, new topics!_ “Oh, Benrey, I almost forgot to ask- Why’d you take out Bubby and Dr. Coomer and not me? You had time to fire at all of us.”

Benry didn’t respond for a moment, squinting at Gordon. Then he shrugged, deciding to take the bait. “…Take out the bigger threats first. That’s like, basic gaming 101.” He said, taking a can from the dwindling pile and eating it whole. 

Gordon wasn’t going to question how he ate aluminum, he’d given up saying anything about Benry’s dietary habits. “wha- I’m not a threat to you?”

“Nope.” Benry replied, popping the ‘P’.

“Oh come on!” Gordon threw his hands up in frustration. “I killed you! How am I not a threat!”

Benry hummed, letting out a few Sweet Voice™ orbs. “We talked about this- during the uh, ‘battle.’”, he said, making air quotes. “You didn’t kill me, obs, ‘cause i'm still here. And again it wasn’t _only_ you. I could take you on hand to hand and beat your ass.”

“Fuck off. If we didn’t kill you what happened at the end then?” Gordon asked, honestly curious. Benry had just… showed up during their streak of heists with no explanation of how he got there or how he was even alive. Truth be told, none of them knew how they were existing outside of Black Mesa, but they had a silent agreement not to talk about it. When Benry appeared that silent agreement grew to include him, none of the group wanted to make the others uncomfortable and shatter the peace by acknowledging what they were all trying to ignore. That they shouldn’t exist.

Benry simply shrugged, as if the question wasn’t on the back of all of their minds. “You, uh, knocked me out or something. I don’t… I dont really know.”

Gordon frowned. He had been really hoping Benry, the first one to realize their whole reality was a game and the only nonhuman in the group, would understand how they kept going after the game ended. How there was a whole world outside of the programmed levels.

Gordon was about to say something else, when a loud static screech came from outside the building.

“We have you surrounded, come out with your hands up!”

Fuck. They’d been having such a nice time that Gordon honestly forgot that they were on the run and their face’s on every major news outlet.

 _“Who the hell called the cops on us? We haven’t even done anything incriminating here!”_ Gordon hissed, watching the science team pull out various weapons.

“Maybe _you_ haven’t, but don’t speak for the rest of us!” Bubby said.

“Goddamn it Bubby.”

Oh well, another day another ~~dollar~~ fight, as they said in Black Mesa.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! My second fic ever and this fandom has really inspired me so far! I hope you liked it! I've also only ever played paint ball ONCE and it was like 12 years ago so. this is probably inaccurate!!  
> Also, Gordon's starting comment of "we're wearing the same thing!" was initially supposed to be "We're LITERALLY dating." so if you wanna take this fic as ship, go ahead.


End file.
